He nor



(No Model.)

W. A. NELSON.

LIFE GUARD FOR STREET CARS. N Na. 540L867. Patented ne 1, 1895.

no TATES I ATENT Felon,

LIFE-GUARD FOR STREET-CARS.

srncrrrcnrrow forming part of Letters Patent No. 540,867, dated June 11, 1895.

Application filed December 5,1894- Serial No. 530.893- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WAHLFRID ArNELSoN, a subject of the King of Sweden and Norway,

and a resident of New York city, in the county and State of New York, 'haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Life-Guards for Street-Oars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to attachments to street cars for preventing people from being crushed under the wheels when knocked down or falling in front of the cars and it consists of the improvements of construction and arrangements of such devices as hereinafter described and claimed, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of part of a car and of my improved guard-attached. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the car with a part broken out and a cross-section of the track. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the guard separately and of a portion of the track.

.At a suitable position back of the front end of the car I attach a fifth wheel device of any approved kind as the frame a, having a disk c, pivoted at a to the under side of the car in its central longitudinal vertical plane, and pivot another frame b, to the under side of frame a as at b so as to oscillate freely in a vertical plane on a horizontal axis trans-- in, which run on the rails Z of the track.

The front portion of frame b bears on the bars g, and the front portion of frame a, has a roller bearing 0 against the under side of the car body, the purpose of which is to transmit pressure by the springs e to' the bars g to prevent the wheels is from jumping the elastic and the springs having considerable flexibility keep the wheels under pressure notwithstanding the rocking of thecar.

Between'the shaftj at the front ends of the bars 9, and a cross bar 0, under the body of the car directly in front of frame a, and also between side bars m, supported on bars 9 and supporting said bar 0, a web 8 of flexible material is supported su-itably for a yielding apron for reception of bodies liable to be taken up by the guard, with a sheet metal plate at extending forward and downward from over the top of thewheels in close proximity to the rails. This frame ct being liable to be pressed with considerable force when the front portion of the car rocks downward has a friction roller 0 for reducing, the friction when the guard may have to shift laterally at the same time, as when running on a curve in the track. It will be seen that a guard thus mounted for lateral play on the pivot a and having low wheels at the front confined on the rails so as not to rise therefrom, as the car rocks, nor to be thrown off by shocks or jars,

will be more effective in taking up prostrate bodies and will be less injurious to them than others not so constructed.

I claim.

The combination with a car, of a guard consisting of bars having wheels at the front to run on the rails and at the rear pivoted for vertical play to an intermediate frame which is pivoted for vertical play, its pivot being carried on the horizontally oscillating frame pivoted to the bottom of the car, springs between said frame pivoted to the bottom of the car and said intermediate frame, said latter frame bearing on the wheel carrying bars and said bars having the receiving apron on the front portion substantially as described.

Signed at New York city, in the county and State of New York, this 23d day of October,

, WAHLFRID A. NELSON.

Witnesses:

W. J. MORGAN, S. H. MORGAN.

I rails. The bars are designed to be somewhat I 

